The state came into existence in early April of that year. After the news of the creation of a new republic in Rome and the surrounding areas reached Sardinia, populist uprisings against Julius Asclepiodotus — who had been recognized as the Roman Emperor in Sardinia at the time — broke out in the city of Caralis and several surrounding towns. During early April, the local imperial officials were run out of those towns. Provisional governments in each rebel city elected representatives to a Senate, which proclaimed the Sardinian Republic on April 15.

The Sardinian Republic came to an end in June, when Asclepiodotus launched a campaign to crush it. The Sardinian Republic did not have an established, professional military force. Its only defenders were several militias that were largely independent of each other and to a degree independent of the government, and these militias were no match for the forces Asclepiodotus sent. Caralis fell to Asclepiodotus' portion of the Roman Empire by June 18.